Book One of the Travelers by D.J. MacHale Page B

“Throw it to me!”
    Without thinking, the gar flung the ball to Kasha. She was as startled as the other players and nearly missed the catch. In the heat of the moment, the gar had simply followed a klee order.
    As soon as the ball left his hands he must have realized his mistake—he raced toward her. But Kasha dug her heels into her zenzen’s sides and loped toward the goal.
    Gars scrambled to block her but she made it all the way—to score!
    Scoring the first goal in this half energized her teammates. Their determination seemed to renew as the ball went back into play.
    As the game continued, both teams played aggressively. Kasha watched disheartened as several injured gars were removed from play. She hadn’t harmed a single one of them herself, but for the first time in her life, the sight sickened her.
    The game was close now. Once again the Blue Team had a shot at winning the championship. Kasha wanted that win as badly as her teammates; she could taste the sweetness of the victory as strongly as she could smellthe mud spatters on her fur. But she just wouldn’t put the gars at risk. As they neared the end of the game, that was getting more and more difficult. Both teams were rigorously defending their positions.
    But how? Keep them out of the line of fire somehow .
    The Red Team would expect her to play the standard strategies. Maybe she could win by confusing them. It had worked before—like in the game when she had only passed to gars. Could it work again by never passing to them?
    She gained control of the ball. Time to put her plan into action. She whistled for Blue Team gars. As she loped back and forth across the field, never approaching the goal, the gars dashed over to her.
    â€œCover Boon!” she ordered them. “Go!”
    The gars raced to the other side of the field. Boon prepared for the pass.
    It never came.
    The Red Team saw the gars heading for Boon. They sent their own gars after them. That gave Kasha the opening she was hoping for.
    â€œYah!” she shrieked. She leaned far forward in her saddle and roared into the zenzen’s ears. The zenzen galloped fast across the field.
    By the time the Red Team realized they’d been sent in the wrong direction, it was too late. Kasha was close enough to the goal to throw.
    She stood in her stirrups and flung the ball hard. She squeezed her eyes tight, terrified she’d missed the shot.
    A cheer went up—she’d scored!
    And won the game!
    Kasha’s eyes blinked open. The Blue Team went wild. Boon let out a roar and yanked on his reins so that his zenzen reared up and whinnied. Players tossed their scoops into the air while the crowd applauded. Coach Jorsa mounted and rode out onto the field to join her team in the victory circle around the stadium.
    Kasha’s breath slowly returned to normal as she trotted around the arena. She pulled her zenzen to a stop for the trophy ceremony. Jorsa accepted the prize on behalf of the team, praising them all.
    â€œWe did it!” Boon beamed beside her. “I mean, you did it!”
    â€œI—I can’t take any credit,” Kasha said.
    She flicked the reins and followed the rest of her team off the field. She felt dazed. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she was out of place, an imposter. Her teammates were jubilant and all she felt was…confused.
    â€œYou are a truly talented player, Kasha,” Coach Jorsa said as Kasha dismounted. “Each game you used a different technique to keep the Red Team off kilter.”
    â€œYes…,” Kasha said. “I guess I did.” She gave her zenzen water to drink and lapped up some herself.
    â€œBrilliant strategy,” Jorsa continued. “By avoiding the gars entirely the Red Team couldn’t predict your moves. We will have to remember that for next year.”
    â€œTruly,” Boon chimed in. “How did you think of that?”
    Kasha dropped to all fours for a long